Robert Lewandowski is a name that's been mooted more than once as a potential backup option for Chelsea should they fail to land Edinson Cavani this summer. If you weren't familiar with the Polish striker last year, one would have to assume you are now. It's difficult to score four goals in a Champions League semifinal against Real Madrid without being noticed.
Lewandowski has one year to go on his contract with Borussia Dortmund, and he's never showed any signs of being interested in an extension. The hot rumour is that he's already agreed to join Bayern Munich, should the Bavarian giants manage to land him this summer. But BVB, who've already lost Mario Gotze to Bayern this year, are apparently drawing a line in the sand when it comes to the poaching of their talent:
Dortmund have told Lewandowski he won't be sold to Bayern this summer
— raphael honigstein (@honigstein) June 9, 2013
This is, essentially, a big middle finger being pointed in Bayern's direction. It's also an expensive(ish) one, because if they don't sell him this summer he'll just leave on a free transfer at the end of next season, and BVB will thereby miss out on any compensation for his departure.
Cue speculation that another club -- Manchester United or Chelsea -- might give Dortmund a hand in tweaking Bayern's nose by buying Lewandowski themselves. He's obviously a quality player, and he'd help both sides. A move to the Premier League is natural, right?
I think not, and that's mostly because Lewandowski himself has the most leverage here. If he's dead set on joining Bayern, linking up with the defending champions of Europe and Pep Guardiola, he, at worst, can wait a year to come to the club. And why wouldn't he want to go to Bayern above all else? It's close to home, in a familiar league, they're amazing and they pay high wages. I would want to go to Bayern.
So this is a matter of convincing Lewandowski that Chelsea is a better place to be than Bayern Munich rather than convincing Dortmund to sell. Even if the price tag seems tempting, I'm going to go ahead and give pretty long odds on that one.
Honigstein agrees:
Dortmund encouraging foreign bids, obviously. but chance of Lewandowski going anywhere else is zero, imo.
— raphael honigstein (@honigstein) June 9, 2013
Something might happen to throw this whole thing off, but in the long run I think Bayern will almost certainly get their man. They've already convinced him to join, and the only way to stop him involves getting him to agree to go to a non-Bayern destination. Dortmund are screwed.